"This is the biggest day for the company so far," says Brammo founder Craig Bramscher, "we've gone from early adopter to mainstream transportation." The Brammo Enertia powercycle has dropped its price from $11,995 to $7,995 ($7,195 with a 10% federal income tax credit). Additionally, financing is now available from four west coast Best Buy outlets, which means you can ride off on the zero emissions electric motorcycle for $2,000 down, then $249 a month for 24 months with no interest payments. >

When we rode the Enertia this summer, we managed a chasevehicle-verified 65mph top speed and Brammo says the bike has a maximum range of 42 miles and can perform a full recharge from astandard 110v wall outlet in four hours. Unlike several competitors,most notably the more powerful $9,950 Zero S, the Enertia is overbuiltwith a rugged brushless motor and high quality motorcycle componentslike 41mm Marzocchi forks. The electric motor produces 18bhp and28lb/ft of torque.

So what's enabled the price to come down? "It's the whole electric vehicle ecosystem," says Craig, "this pricing breakthrough is in line with consumer electronics, where engineering and production advances get passed on to customers as quickly as possible to stimulate adoption of the technology." As the company has refined its production process and established a base of demand for electric transportation, it now knows it can invest in making more motorcycles and selling them at a lower cost.

This announcement comes after Brammo produced its 100th motorcycle,meaning the Oregon-based production line has passed its initialshakedown tests and is now capable of producing up to 10,000 bikes peryear. That volume may seem ambitious, but Brammo already has plans toopen two more Best Buy retail locations in the San Francisco area inthe next few days and hopes to expand to all 20 stores that alreadycarry other personal transportation devices. Additionally, bikes areavailable directly from the company.